Out-of-touch unions need a majority rule

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Protect those who want to work by banning strikes backed only by a minority of members

Tomorrow Bob Crow’s RMT union will announce the results of its latest strike
ballot on the London Underground as hard-line unions try to fire up a summer
of discontent. RMT’s record shows how Britain’s strike laws are outdated and
open to abuse. They undermine the freedoms of hard-working employees,
legitimise anti-democratic strikes and empower a militant minority to hold
the moderate majority to ransom.

The union movement has a proud history. Chartists, early unions and social
reformers pioneered great struggles against epic injustice — from child
labour to the Poor Laws. By comparison, today’s gripes pale into
insignificance. Social reform has